Yeardley Smith Biography, Age, Net worth, Movies, Tv Shows, actress, voice actress, writer and artist

Yeardley Smith Biography

Yeardley Smith is an American actress, voice actress, writer and artist, best known for her long-running role as Lisa Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons.

Yeardley Smith Age

Yeardley Smith was born on July 3, 1964 in Paris France. She is 54 years old as of 2018.

Yeardley Smith Height

Yeardley Smith stands at a height of 1.62 m.

Yeardley Smith Net worth

Yeardley Smith has an estimated net worth of $65 million.

Yeardley Smith Family

Yeardley Smith was born to Joseph Smith (father) and Martha Mayor (mother). Her family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1966. Her father worked for United Press International in Paris and later moved to Washington, D.C., in 1966, where he became The Washington Post’s first official obituary editor. Her parents later divorced.

Yeardley Smith Photo

Yeardley Smith Education

Yeardley Smith graduated from drama school. After her appearances in a number of school plays, she joined a local Arena Stage theater group on apprenticeship, in featuring their production of Peter Pan. She went on to star in several other plays in Washington.

Yeardley Smith Husband

Yeardley Smith is married to English-Canadian actor Christopher Grove in 1990. The couples later divorced in 1992, due to citing irreconcilable differences. She was later engaged to Daniel Erickson in 2002; their marriage lasted for six years and Smith filed for a divorce on May 21, 2008, due to irreconcilable differences.

Yeardley Smith actress, voice actress, writer and artist

Yeardley Smith became a professional actress in 1982 after graduating from drama school. During her chilhood she was teased because of her voice. She became a professional actress in 1982 after graduating from drama school and moved to New York City in 1984, where she appeared in the Broadway production of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing. She made her first debut film in 1985’s of Heaven Help Us, followed by roles in The Legend of Billie Jean and Maximum Overdrive.

She moved to Los Angeles in 1986 where she received a recurring role in the television series of Brothers. In 1987, she auditioned the role of animated shorts series about the Simpson family on The Tracey Ullman Show. She intended to audition for the role of Bart Simpson, but the casting director felt her voice was too high, so she was assigned the role of Lisa, instead. She voiced Lisa for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, and in 1989, the shorts were spun off into their own half-hour show, The Simpsons. For her work as the character, Smith received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992.

Alongside The Simpsons, Smith appeared in the sitcom Herman’s Head as Louise, and had recurring appearances as Marlene on Dharma & Greg and Penny in two episodes of Dead Like Me. She has appeared in several films, including City Slickers, Just Write, Toys and As Good as It Gets. In 2004, she performed her own off-Broadway of one-woman show entitled More at the Union Square Theatre in New York City. Aside from The Simpsons, she recorded few voices over parts, only commercials and the film We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story. Smith starred in and served as executive producer for the independent romantic comedy Waiting For Ophelia, which had its world premiere at the Phoenix Film Festival in April 2009.

She moved to New York City in 1984 and appeared in the Broadway production of Tom Stoppard’s play The Real Thing alongside Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close. She has her first film role of came in Heaven Help Us (1985). She then played Putter in The Legend by Billie Jean (of 1985). The film was a box office bomb that critically panned, although she “thought it would be the movie that launched my career. And then it was out of the box office after 10 days before it died.” When filming was over, she rejoined The Real Thing before being out of work for six months. Smith worried her career was over. However, the following year, she played Connie in Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive (1986), noting it was “truly a dreadful film, but I had a great part in it.”

She then moved to Los Angeles in 1986 on the “semi-promise” of a part in a TV film. After the audition, the role was given to another actress. Smith realized “that people don’t mean what they say. It’s not malicious. They just don’t realize how much impact they have on an impressionable actor – and all actors are impressionable.” From then on, she decided to “just sort of build a wall around myself”, to cope with the disappointment of not getting a part. In Los Angeles, she appeared in theatrical productions of Living on Salvation Street, for which she was paid $14 for each performance, Boys and Girls/Men and Women, and How the Other Half Loves, and played the recurring role of Louella Waters on the Showtime series Brothers.

She appeared in the films The Legend of Billie Jean and Ginger Ale Afternoon (1989) as “trailer-park girls”. She later spoke of her regrets of appearing in the latter in her one-woman show More. From 1991 to 1994, alongside The Simpsons, Smith was one of the lead cast members in the sitcom Herman’s Head as Louise. Brooks, who is also executive producer of The Simpsons, had cast Smith in his 1994 film I’ll Do Anything, but her part was cut. Aside from The Simpsons, Smith has recorded few voice-over parts, only commercials and the film We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story.

She starred in and served as executive producer for the independent romantic comedy Waiting for Ophelia, which was released in 2009. On 30 March 2019, Smith was honored with the Human Rights Campaign’s National Leadership Award in Los Angeles for her work as an advocate of the LGBTQ community. Three years later, she was with Fox for she was threatened to cancel the series unless the production costs were cut, Smith and the other cast members accepted a 25% pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode.

She says “If I had to be associated with one character in fiction, I will always be thrilled that it was Lisa Simpson.” The show’s creator Matt Groening has called Smith very similar to Lisa: “Yeardley has strong moral views about her character. There are lines that are written for Lisa that Yeardley reads and says, ‘No, I wouldn’t say that.’” Writer Jay Kogen praised her performance on the show, particularly in the episode “Lisa’s Substitute”, as able “To move past comedy to something really strong and serious and dramatic.”

Yeardley Smith The Simpsons

Yeardley Smith longest-running role is voicing Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons shows. She has voiced Lisa since 1987, beginning with The Simpsons shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. Smith had initially been asked to audition for the role of Lisa’s brother Bart, but casting director Bonita Pietila thought her voice was too high. Smith later recalled “I always sounded too much like a girl, I read two lines as Bart and they said, ‘Thanks for coming!’” shewas given the role of Lisa, instead. She denies rumors that she almost turned down the role, though admits she had never planned a career in voice-over work.

Pietila stated that, having seen her in Living on Salvation Street, she was always her preferred choice. She lifts her voice up slightly to perform the role. Lisa is the only regular character voiced by Smith, although in some earlier episodes, she provided some of Maggie’s squeaks and occasional speaking parts. She has only voiced characters other than Lisa on very rare occasions, with those characters usually being some derivative of Lisa, such as Lisa Bella in “Last Tap Dance in Springfield” and Lisa, Jr. in “Missionary: Impossible” (both from season 11 in 2000). She spends two days a week recording the show.

Until 1998, she was paid $30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing to cast new voices. However, the dispute was soon resolved and she received $125,000 per episode until 2004, when the voice actors, it was then demanded that they be paid $360,000 an episode. The issue was resolved a month later, and Smith earned $250,000 per episode. After salary renegotiations in 2008, the voice actors received about $400,000 per episode. Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Smith and the other cast members accepted a 25% pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode.

Despite her world-famous role, she was rarely recognized in public, though she does not mind, saying, “it’s wonderful to be in the midst of all this hype about the show, and people enjoying the show so much, and to be totally a fly on the wall; people never recognize me solely from my voice.” In a 2009 interview with The Guardian, she commented: “It’s the best job ever. I have nothing but gratitude for the amount of freedom The Simpsons has bought me in my life. She received a Prime time Emmy Award in 1992, but she felt it was not worth anything, saying “there’s part of me that feels it wasn’t even a real Emmy.”

The Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance is a Creative Arts and not handed out during the prime time telecast and, prior to 2009, was a juried award without nominations. However, Smith says “if I had to be associated with one character in fiction, I will always be thrilled that it was Lisa Simpson.” The show’s creator Matt Groening has called Smith very similar to Lisa: “She has strong moral views about her character. There are lines that are written for Lisa that Yeardley reads and says, ‘No, I wouldn’t say that.’” Writer Jay Kogen praised her performance on the show, particularly in the episode “Lisa’s Substitute”, as able “to move past comedy to something really strong and serious and dramatic.”

Yeardley Smith Pessonal life

In 1997, Yeardley Smith was interviewed by the The Daily Targum where she stated that “I am shy, but I have an extroverted persona which I can draw on when I need to,” and that she is a “private” actress. In 2009, she commented, “People have said to me that I’m unassuming. It’s true, I’m the worst celebrity ever. But I’m trying to become better.” She had bulimia since she was a teenager. She noted “It would make me high, I would feel endorphins and this great sense of victory.” She enjoys writing and painting. During the first season of Herman’s Head, Smith taught herself to paint by copying other artists.